(Almost) On This Day: President Obama runs around his desk in the Oval Office with Sarah Froman, daughter of Nancy Goodman and Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics, July 9, 2012 (Photo by Pete Souza) (I somehow managed to use July 10 photos for July 9’s R&S. Hush)

When tens of thousands of unaccompanied children from Central America started showing up at the U.S. border, Republican lawmakers were quick to pounce. The influx, they argued, showed that President Obama was weak on immigration enforcement and that his appeals for normalizing the status of millions of undocumented workers was encouraging people to make a mad dash for the USA.

Yet now that Obama is proposing a fix to the problem — asking Congress for $3.7 billion for new detention centers and more judges and legal officers to expedite the deportation process — congressional Republicans are balking.

…. The GOP critics have numerous rationales, none of them convincing, for spurning Obama’s proposal. Let’s call the Republican response what it is: a tactical decision to let a problem fester for political reasons.

Anthony O. Castellanos disappeared from his gang-ridden neighborhood on the eastern edge of Honduras’s most dangerous city, so his younger brother, Kenneth, hopped on his green bicycle to search for him, starting his hunt at a notorious gang hangout known as the “crazy house.”

They were found within days of each other, both dead. Anthony, 13, and a friend had been shot in the head; Kenneth, 7, had been tortured and beaten with sticks and rocks. They were among seven children murdered in the La Pradera neighborhood of San Pedro Sula in April alone, part of a surge in gang violence that is claiming younger and younger victims.

The killings are a major factor driving the recent wave of migration of Central American children to the United States, which has sent an unprecedented number of unaccompanied minors across the Texas border.

Economists generally expected initial unemployment claims to inch higher in the new Labor Department report. Fortunately, they were mistaken:

The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits in the first week of July fell by 11,000 to 304,000, putting initial claims close to a seven-year bottom again and offering more evidence that U.S. hiring has accelerated while the rate of layoffs remains low. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected claims to total 320,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis.

ThinkProgress: Even Republicans Are Satisfied With Their New Obamacare Coverage

Conservative groups have invested millions of dollars in opposing the Affordable Care Act, but they appear to have had little success in turning Americans against the law. In fact, according to a new poll from the Commonwealth Fund, individuals and families who enroll in Obamacare — including the overwhelming majority of Republicans — are satisfied with the product:

Overall, 73 percent of people who bought health plans and 87 percent of those who signed up for Medicaid said they were somewhat or very satisfied with their new health insurance. Seventy-four percent of newly insured Republicans liked their plans. Even 77 percent of people who had insurance before — including members of the much-publicized group whose plans got canceled last year — were happy with their new coverage.

The study also found that the percentage of uninsured has dropped, from 20 percent to 15 percent, after the first open enrollment period, with 9.5 million fewer people now uninsured. Latinos, the most likely of any racial group to lack health insurance, are seeing the biggest gains in coverage. “The percent uninsured fell from 36 percent in July–September 2013 to 23 percent in April–June 2014,” Commonwealth reports.

Jonathan Cohn: Obamacare Haters, Your Case Just Got Weaker New report suggests number of uninsured declined, just as expected

Back in the spring, some conservatives insisted that Obamacare enrollment statistics were some kind of sham. Sure, people were finally signing for the program. But early reports suggested that most of these people had insurance already. The law’s critics figured that meant the Affordable Care Act wasn’t really helping substantially more Americans to get coverage, as it is supposed to do.

A new report suggests that the critics were wrong about that.

It’s a survey from the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that focuses on health care programs in the U.S. and abroad. The results provide a detailed look at the Affordable Care Act’s impact, including the question of whether more people now have insurance—and, if so, how many. The answer is consistent with previous reports. And it is encouraging.

…. The Senate majority leader gets plenty frustrated when people claim that both parties are equally responsible for the mess in Congress. The evidence, he insists, is that the Republicans are gumming things up for their own political purposes.

“It irritates me so much when people say, ‘Why don’t they just work together?’ ” Reid says. What this overlooks, he argues, is that “the Republicans made a decision . . . to oppose everything Obama wants.” It’s in the GOP’s interest to keep things from happening because it plays into a simple narrative that Reid described this way: “Democrats control the Senate. We have a Democrat in the White House. Why can’t you get things done?”

The result: “They won’t let us vote on things that the vast majority of the American people want a vote on.”

“It’s so bad around here,” Reid adds, “that they filibuster their own bills.”

It’s been a pretty good couple of weeks for American foreign policy. No, seriously.

On June 23, the last of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile was loaded onto a Danish freighter to be destroyed. The following day, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia asked his Parliament to rescind the permission that it had given him to send troops into Ukraine. Meanwhile, there is still cautious optimism that a nuclear deal with Iran is within reach.

What do these have in common? They were achieved without a single American bomb being dropped and they relied on a combination of diplomacy, economic sanctions and the coercive threat of military force. As policy makers and pundits remain focused on Iraq and the perennial but distracting discussion about the use of force, these modest but significant achievements have, perhaps predictably, been ignored. Yet they hold important lessons for how American power can be most effectively deployed today.

…. All too often, though, our foreign policy debates are defined by simplistic ideas: that force is a problem-solver, that America can go its own way and that mere application of American leadership brings positive results. But the results with Syria, Russia and Iran remind us that when American foreign policy is led by painstaking diplomacy, seeks multilateral consensus and acts with an understanding of its own limitations, it can produce positive results. More often than not, boring is better.

…. During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on the ongoing border crisis, McCain was outraged by a recent memo saying visitors to detention facilities had to check cell phones with cameras. The senator, outraged, demanded that Thomas Winkowski, a Deputy Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, explain himself….

WINKOWSKI: I don’t recall saying that. What I recall….

McCAIN: Let me provide you with a copy. It says see distribution. R. Gil Kerlikowske, Commissioner interim, protocol for visitations and tours to CBP detention facilities. You didn’t see your own memo?

You might have noticed the problem. R. Gil Kerlikowske wrote the memo. McCain was yelling at Thomas Winkowski.

For the record, R. Gil Kerlikowske and Thomas Winkowski are not the same person. Their names may rhyme, but I’m afraid that doesn’t much matter. Senators in high dudgeon should probably get these details right before upbraiding a witness publicly.

Mooorning Ms Chips, morning everyone! Congrats on first, amk! I haven’t commented lately… lots going on lately. But I read as much as I can at night. Thanks so much Ms Chips and BT’s for keeping us all so well informed!

I won’t make too much of this but there was an article in the NYTimes today specifically casting doubt on the absurd polls we have been seeing.
Not that TOD believed the nonsense but my take is that the Times doesn’t want to humiliate itself further than it already has by appearing to support the Alternate Universe of Rasmussen et al.
As Bob says Landslide Dems in 2014!!!

EVEN THOUGH I CAN’T STOMACH RICK PERRY AND HIS PHONY POLITICAL PLOYS…I MUST SAY I AM DISAPPOINTED IN PBO’S PHOTO-OP STATEMENT. THIS ISN’T ABOUT PICTURES AND FRANKLY I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANY…IT’S ABOUT A COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF ADDRESSING A HORRIFIC CRISIS WITH THE MOTHERS AND CHILDREN INVOLVED. I HOPE THE FUNDRAISERS WERE WORTH IT.

Sue, your comment sounds like you only heard sound-bits from the news media and not the full statement from President Obama’s lips. I know if you heard it from the President, you would have a clearer understanding.

Sue, PBO’s statement didn’t come from the blue – it was a direct response to a questioned posed by a reporter, and basically said the same thing you just stated in your post, so I really don’t understand what was your problem with his saying it. He simply answered a question that was posed to him by a reporter.

Secondly, I would like to comment on that last sentence of yours regarding the fundraisers. Do you know exactly why PBO does fundraising? It’s not because it’s a fun and exciting escapade from the Oval office – as much as Mark Knoller and his friends in the media want you to think that. Fundraising has become a fundamental part of the President’s job in the wake of the Citizen’s United Decision. Thanks to the Right Wing Supreme Court and their toxic activism, the GOP has unlimited access to money from every and any source – without any need to disclose.

I DID WATCH PBO’S INTERVIEW AND STATEMENT ON TV….I HAVE A HUGE HEART FOR THOSE KIDS AND THINK IT IS IMPORTANT FOR HIM TO GET TO THE SHELTERS TO SPEK WITH THE MOTHERS AND CHILDREN…JUST LIKE ANY OTHER EMERGENCY HE HAS CONFRONTED. I AM HOPING HE WILL STILL GET THERE AT SOME TIME…THE PICS ARE NOT AT ALL IMPORTANT. I WORK THE HOMELESS…I KNOW HOW MUCH SOMETHING LIKE THAT WOULD MEAN TO LOST AND LONELY SOULS.

Wow. Turn. Off. The. Television. The propaganda is getting to you. What is PBO visiting the border going to accomplish exactly. This is not a rhetorical question. Even though all the pundits/propagandists left and right are screeching the same GOP talking point, what will going to the border accomplish? This “go to the border” nonsense is a shiny object to place before the the public to affix blame on PBO and let the GOP off the hook, as is the normal status quo for our media. PBO, in the speech and Q&A set forth concrete actions to resolve the border situation. PBO has already requested funds from Congress to hire additional lawyers, judges and staff to aid in the process of repatriating the refugees AND THE GOP WILL NOT ALLOW A VOTE ON THE PRESIDENT”S REQUEST. This is the real scandal. Your anger and disappointment are grossly misplaced. Rubio and a GOP congressman both said as late as yesterday that they don’t think the GOP will allow a vote on the President’s fund request.

I HAVE NEVER LISTENED TO OR BELIEVED ANY PROPAGANDA AGAINST PBO…IN FACT WHEN I HAD HIS BUMPER STICKERS FOR YEARS I HAD TIRES SLASHED…HERSHEY BARS IN THE WHEELCAPS…VECHICLE BREAK-INS AND ALL SORTS OF CONSERVATIVE PROPAGANDA LEFT ON MY WINDSHIELD…YOU’RE TALKING TO THE WRONG GIRL ABOUT PROPAGANDA. I’M FROM THE 08′ OLD SCHOOL.

Good morning everyone! Ok…I need you all to weigh in on a question. In my local news today, there is a story about a mom who lost her son, a loved and decorated police officer, to a wrong way driver on the freeway. This wrong way driver was undocumented. To add insult to injury, he was nabbed for a driving offense in Colorado in 1994!!! (really, she made it sound like PBO should have fixed this problem in 1994!)

She is a real estate agent and her contact info is public knowledge. She SHOULD know that S. 744, the Immigration Bill that both her senators helped craft and is now sitting in a huge pile on Speaker Boehner’s desk, because he won’t do his job….addresses the very concerns that she voiced in her angry letter to PBO. The bill he agrees with and said he’s sign if it came to his desk…the ones REPUBLICANS ARE HOLDING UP! This is why people remain ignorant! Wonder if she called her senators? Her RW Rep?? I’m guessing no, because it’s much easier (especially around here) to blame the President.

I want to send her some facts. I am so sorry for the loss of her son…I can imagine her anger and frustration…BUT IT”S DIRECTED AT THE WRONG PERSON! It needs to be redirected, so that she can push the PROPER LAWMAKERS to get something done.

My question is, how do I handle this and what should I do to make sure that she knows the facts of this matter? If McCain and Flake or any of their workers see this story and say nothing, they are lying by omission to her…same with her congressperson….HELP!!!

Hi df,
Suggest you respond indirectly to her, via your ‘local news,’ either by submitting an Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor, in which you describe the facts. That approach informs her and others and does not involve your having to contact her directly. You could request that if your ‘local news’ does not wish to publish your information that they send it directly to her.

So sad and wrong that the lying liars who lie get away with spreading falsehood and playing “Gotcha!” without being called on it, but a lot of the time, they do. I salute your wish to communicate truth and reality, but what stays with me after I consider the situation, is that this woman lost her son. He is gone forever. Reason and truth have no power to make it easier or better for her, and going off on a false, wrong tangent is one of the ways people cope with tragedy and loss. I know that you mean well and want to right a wrong; however, I would let this go. Let’s turn to the big picture, and put the truth out there, enjoy PBO’s speeches and the pix and stories, and register voters, etc.

Thanks for your thoughts, Nancie:) I understand what you’re saying, but if I put myself in her shoes, I would STILL want to direct my anger and frustration to the right place. Her problem now is, she thinks this IS the right place! I think what I’ve decided to do with this is to contact the writer of the story and send an email to them that they can forward on…because what she needs and she wants, is CIR…that her Rep. is silent about/shifting blame for/etc. I will be respectful and cognizant of the fact that she has lost her son. I have a son, too..that if I lost him, would devastate me. I have to tutor today and I’ll think on it. Regardless, thanks for your opinion:)

But it is so much more satisfying to blame the Black guy in the Oval Office. As an added bonus you get some airtime/column space to air your ignorance if you blame PBO. Had she done her homework and blamed the GOP, her rant would not have seen the light of day.

I see what you are saying, and I honor your dedication to sharing the truth and helping people move forward and see with clear eyes. I feel lucky to read your words and learn from and share with the good people in this circle. All the best to you and yours. Thank you for hearing me.

CNN ask “Is Immigration Rick Perry second chance?” I guess they mean his chance to run again in 2016. By the time the media finish spinning things, Perry would have told President Obama what to do. They will be saying Perry acted more like a President then Obama.

I have the email alerts disabled, because I’m here all the time anyway. Yes, that would annoy the hell out of me.

Terribly hard work being a puppy. So busy.

Nickelby is fixated at digging in one particular place – I don’t know what’s there but apparently there is something that requires his unwavering diligence. Can’t leave him out in the yard unattended: there are baby birdies in our birdhouse and he can’t wait for them to try to fly. It’s not pretty. My Great Hunter.

An interesting article, my answer to the question ask “What Happen America” Not a dam thing happen except you got better. Mrs Michelle Obama is just as good if not better then any First Lady before her.

Jackie had all the resources of the Kennedy wealth behind her to shield her. And, knowing her life…….I’ve read a lot, and remember a lot…and the ideas of the time, it is fortunate for her and JFK that these resources were available. Michelle has and has had NOBODY’s wealth to insulate her. That was, of course, a purposeful choice of pictures to contrast.
That picture of Jackie is the way all of today’s Republican men would like to see women: in the shadows and quiet. However, Jackie was not quiet and demure, at all.

I didn’t read the article, and Jackie O was lionized in the media when I was a child (I was 9 when President Kennedy, shocked and horrified by his assassination).

Jackie O was the epitome of grace and elegance during JFK’s funeral (anyone American alive then with a TV set cannot forget that weekend), and sadly, too, as was Corretta Scott King only 5 years later.

Jackie O and JFK were born into privilege and were featured in NY society pages well before JFK was elected President.

The media, including BBC, need to stop comparing 60 years ago to today.

It’s like comparing Dolly Madison to Michelle Obama — makes no sense, and why belittle these First Ladies with the trite “who was better” poison?

Comparing someone who NY society swooned over to someone who grew up in area that portion of society refuse to acknowledge even exists is not journalism, it’s self-promoting sensationalism (in favor of the white elite).

The President is very popular I know, and I would love to get a ticket to see him up-close. However, my question is – Why line up around so many corners when you have to know there are only so many tickets? I don’t get the logic of that part.

Chips, I asked you about that when I squeezed my way in yesterday, but you ignored me. 😉 I felt, at the time, it was a deliberate attempt to confuse me. I see now it was an unconscious subconsciously deliberate attempt to confuse me. I forgive you.

Think of it this way – you had me wondering if I really had lost a day, 😉 especially since all the pics had the same date.

Don’t be embarrassed. I say as Empress of TODsylvania, Universal Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Wet POTUSia, you have the power to designate your own “April Fool’s Day” even if it’s in July. Maybe you should rename it though to July Fool’s Day (I’m not too creative) in TODvillage. 😀

As I implied – when you have power there’s nothing wrong with using it…..strategically 🙂 🙂 This example tickled my funny bone yesterday, as I thought it was deliberately done – to see if we were actually paying attention. In fact I felt sure it had already been mentioned as I came on late, but I hadn’t the will to go back and check as my laptop was not in reliable mode.
Truth is, the twin part of me that is like the rabble rousing part of you sees great value in you dropping in a bit of similar confusion once in a while, to see if we are really awake. 😉 😉 😀 😀 😀

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) on Wednesday downplayed the horrible conditions in U.S. Border Patrol detention centers by describing all of the supposed benefits undocumented immigrants are receiving there.

“They belong back with their families. When you look at the lovely way they’re getting treated — they’re getting free health care, free housing, you know, they’re watching the World Cup on big screen TVs,” he said on Sean Hannity’s radio show, as recorded by the Huffington Post.

However, photos of the detention centers show immigrants crammed together sitting on cement floors and benches, and locked up in holding cells. Photos provided to the Houston Chronicle by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) show some of the depressing conditions that undocumented immigrants are living in.

After trips to a detention centers in Arizona and Texas, LA Times reporters Molly Hennesy-Fiske and Cindy Carcamo said the facilities were “crammed,” “unsanitary” and “reeked of sweat.”

Neugebauer said that undocumented immigrants came to the U.S. partially due to the fantastic detention centers.

” … they are headed for America.” Used to have a nice welcoming sound to it, for some of our ancestors and some of our recent-day immigrants. Too bad our moral compass seems off, again, due to REPUBLICANS. If Pres. Obama can “fix it,” he will – of that I have no doubt. WTH, he’s fixing everything else.

This is all so hateful and unnecessary. It’s not like our country is “full up” and we don’t have the space. It’s not like there are no good people left to give a hand to those fleeing other countries, for whatever reason. I hesitate saying maybe if we brought some of the Central or South Americans here by slave ship, it would be okay with the haters. And now I’ll try to get that thought out of my brain.

Although America was founded on the brilliant, but false, premise that all citizens are equal, it has taken the course of the nation’s history, a Civil War, and several hard-fought civil rights battles for most Americans to realize a semblance of equality. Obviously, most Americans either could not comprehend, or adamantly opposed, the idea that social equality means every citizen has the same status and equal rights under the law, or that true equality requires the absence of legally enforced boundaries and government enforced discrimination; precisely what the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees all Americans.

One would think most Americans support the 14th Amendment’s prohibition of unequal treatment under the law unflinchingly. Unfortunately, the religious right is intent on abolishing the concept of equality and rejects the idea that no American, or government entity, has the right to abridge any other Americans’ right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now, they are using the Hobby Lobby decision to attempt to establish Christianity’s prohibition against gays as a government policy as a jumping off point in the rush to government by theocracy.

According to a noted constitutional lawyer, Edward Tabash, the High Court’s conservatives failed to reconcile the two religious clauses in the First Amendment and decided that by merely professing a religious objection, someone can establish their religion as law and over other Americans by constitutional fiat. Tabash explained the Establishment Clause as ensuring that believers and non-believers were equal before the law and that no branch of government can favor one religion over another religion, or no religion, and the free exercise clause ensured that because of someone’s religious views they can not suffer lesser rights. By butchering the Free Exercise clause, the Court gave Christians special constitutional rights over the law and other Americans that conflicted with the Establishment Clause. It is that new interpretation of the Establishment Clause that religious leaders are beginning to use to force the government to establish the Christian right’s objections against anti-discrimination laws such as the 14th Amendment’s as government policy. The conservative Court effectively gave fundamentalist Christians the right to establish their religion on the government and the people, and it is why an expanded consortium of faith leaders are demanding that President Obama use taxpayer funds to legally discriminate against gays in direct conflict with the 14th Amendment.

Charlie Pierce has an interesting article on why PBO should go to the border. And I personally have mixed feelings on it. I don’t want it to just be a photo op, but I also wonder what messages it would send.

But back to Pierce, here are a couple things he wrote and my own thoughts.:

There is a massive and growing humanitarian crisis on our southern border. The president can’t be drinking a beer and shooting pool in Colorado, while laughing off the offer of a joint, while we’re rounding up unaccompanied refugee children and sticking them in Army camps. He wasn’t elected to be fundraiser-in-chief. He wasn’t elected even to be the leader of the Democratic party; that’s an honorific that comes with the day job. He was elected to lead the whole country, and it does the country no good to have him up there at a press conference, even telling the truth about the inexcusable dereliction of duty in the Congress and talking airily about how he wouldn’t participate in “theater.” That’s every bit as tone-deaf as anything his predecessor ever said on any subject…

My response: There is some degree of truth in the above, at least in terms of visuals. Personally, I wish PBO had addressed the nation about the humanitarian crisis prior to this trip.

It’s “risky”? Are these people kidding? Who in the hell is he listening to? These kids have come thousands of miles, many of them through a desert. They have had to negotiate a universe of deadly hustlers, sex-traffickers, and other lowlifes incomprehensible to the rest of us. They have had to traverse a landscape without water or pity. They have had to make a journey through some of the hostile terrain, some of the harshest weather, and some of the darkest parts of the human soul just for a bunk in McAllen, Texas. That’s risky

Again, truth but missing the point. The risk here is partially physical, but also a risk of giving the GOP exactly what it wants (more on that later).

This is what presidents do. They go to places where a crisis has erupted and they assure the victims that they still have a stake in the country and that the country still has a stake in them. No, LBJ probably couldn’t get that woman a boat — although, knowing Johnson, you can’t really be sure on that. The point was that the president — that woman’s president — was there to be asked. Right now, and very soon, a child that has gone through hell and back to get here is going to look up one morning, and the face of America, the face of charity and, yes, the face of Hope and of Change in their lives, is not going to be Barack Obama. It’s going to be Glenn Beck. I am not comfortable with that at all.

Here is the crux. Pierce wants him to go to the border to give the kids hope. Plus he is stating the kids are the victims (they are) but also that they have a stake in the country and the country still has a stake in them. Yet, sadly, that is not an accurate statement. What is PBO supposed to say to the kids? “We’ll take care of you, we’ll let you stay” He can’t do that, again unfortunately. And if he comes and just speaks to the people of the area saying, “We’ll take care of this for you” they will all interpret it to mean, “We’ll get rid of these moochers.”

Yet there remains a part of me that wishes he was able to get to the border, discreetly. But ultimately, I think the kids would end up the big loser to any visit he made there.

That article is bullshit. As I asked earlier in the thread, what will PBO going to the border accomplish exactly? The real scandal is that the GOP will not allow a vote on the funds PBO requested to resolve the situation. Pierce wrote “This is what presidents do. They go to places where a crisis has erupted and they assure the victims that they still have a stake in the country and that the country still has a stake in them”. Since these kids ARE NOT AMERICAN CITIZENS and do not have a stake in this country, I think this line is where Pierce told on himself. He is trying to equate this situation to Hurricane Katrina, but the situation is not at all comparable. PBO is not ignoring the situation, he has a plan in place and has requested funding from Congress. This scandal is as fake as all the others because blame is not being affixed to the correct party. This is not a PBO scandal, this is a GOP scandal, and if Pierce is too stupid to see that and lay blame where it clearly belongs, I have no use for him.

For my money, I’ve learned more about the ACA from Balloon Juice FPer, Richard Mayhew.

He has a good post up today about how Medicaid is changing the game of coverage, and just reading his post, you realize the grasp of what those Americans whose evil ass Governors won’t expand Medicaid are doing.

And, like others say, it can not be said enough:

Obamacare is the biggest expansion of the American Social Safety net EVER.

And, in its design, it did NOT exclude huge swaths of the American Populace – it took the Roberts Court to do that.

…………………

Deep penetration is oh so good
Posted by Richard Mayhew at 8:21 am Jul 102014

Now get your minds out of the gutter… I’m talking about Medicaid expansion market penetration.

Traditional/Legacy Medicaid had an adult penetration rate of around sixty five percent. Two out of three adults who were eligible for Medicaid signed up for it. This varied by state as some states aggressively pushed to sign people up, and others exhibited benign indifference at best to making sure their working poor adult population had decent health coverage. Kids tended to be in much shape as the combination of CHIP and the basic fact that telling a poor kid to shut up and die quietly is a good way to lose general elections even if it is a winner in a Republican primary.

Medicaid expansion for the states that have taken it is primarily aimed at non-disabled adults who are not destitute but are working poor.

Speaking of Pierce….. Yesterday I posted about a judge in PA who ruled against MERS and MERSCORP and the fact that this COULD have huge meaning to all the counties that record mortgages…he boils it down to all you need to know…

Among its other attributes, all of which involve the scamming of people who’d already been scammed, MERS is a glorious monument to the deliberately mendacious futility of American corporate self-regulation. It was designed by the mortgage industry itself in order to cut local government—in the persons of local clerks and registrars—out of the mortgage process. Nobody had to hand over actual documents any more. It was all done by computers. What happened was that, suddenly, because all the mortgages were whirling around in an anonymous electronic cerebellum, the people who had mortgages didn’t really know who held them any more. The brains behind it was Angelo Mozilo, the crook behind Countrywide who one day would pay $67 million in fines. This should say it all.

Snip/

Although the bankers touted the registry as a way to make mortgage processing more efficient, thus benefiting borrowers, they weren’t shy about admitting their main goal: more profits. They estimated that the cost of preparing, recording and mailing 11.1 million loan documents totaled about $210 million in the previous year alone.

There was almost nothing they didn’t rig. There was almost nothing they didn’t steal. And if there was something they forgot to rig, they devised a way to rig it. If there was something they forgot to steal, they found a way to pick a lock or kick in a door. It was a festival of criminal greed and amoral maneuvering that absolutely had nothing to do with the national interest of the political entity that is the United States. That entity was merely something to be cored and husked, and all of us along with it.

I too can understand about the club playing pool, drinking beer, and laughing off that question about a hit. While I am not in favor of him going to the border, I can understand some of what Pierce is saying.Yes he gave a speech about the economy while in Colorado, but that other stuff will stick in people head more.

And now he can’t go to the border cause it would look like he is being push around, being told what to do. Seem like we went through this same kind of situation when the oil leak on the gulf coast. Why aren’t the President coming to Louisiana?

I’m so sick and tired of this “President Obama should go to the border” bullshit. You don’t have to visit a place to have a major impact on it. Did he go to Abbottabad, or Syria, or Libya? Did he go to the Supreme Court to argue for the ACA or DOMA? Did he go to the Senate or the House to vote for DADT? And what exactly should he do once he arrives at the border, should he take pictures and hold babies? President Obama doesn’t do fluff, and he shouldn’t start now.